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History

When Amberpaw is complaining that she'll never be a warrior if she doesn't get to do anything, Spiderleg tells her that she can fetch some moss for Purdy's den. When she does return with moss, Squirrelflight sharply tells her that its too wet and he'll claw her ears off. Purdy hears this and pokes his head out of the hazel bush, complaining that there was nothing wrong with his ears or legs. Amberpaw asks about his pelt, but he tells her to speak up and stop mumbling, and that every young cat seems to mumble these days.

Squirrelflight explains that she was telling Amberpaw that she couldn't bring wet moss. Purdy prods the moss, asking if she wasn't trying to bring him a drink instead. Amberpaw is crestfallen and replies that she was only trying to help. Purdy strokes the apprentice's side with his tail, telling her that he was sure she was, and says that they'll instead spread out the moss to dry in the sunlight.

Purdy is a former kittypet who used to live with a Twoleg. He referred to his Twoleg owner as his Upwalker. When his Twoleg died, Purdy became a loner, though he continued to beg for food from Twolegs.

Purdy meets the six questing cats after they are chased by dogs up trees. He is the one who hisses to the six cats to climb the trees to safety and afterwards claims that he knows the way to the sun-drown-place. Squirrelpaw looks annoyed when she has to ask him three times what his name is before he responds. He takes them to a pool with fish to eat. Purdy encourages the cats to eat. Feathertail and Stormfur teach the cats how to fish, and when Crowpaw catches one, he complains that he tastes salt, and the rest of the cats are momentarily confused, but figure out that that is Crowpaw's saltwater sign. Purdy figures out the saltwater sign that the cats are talking about on his own. Purdy then joins the questing cats on their journey and starts to lead the cats to the sun-drown-place. Purdy takes the cats to a Twolegplace and goes towards a certain Twoleg den for food. The Clan cats are uneasy, but nevertheless drink the milk and eat the kittypet food 'that looks like rabbit droppings'.

Then, Feathertail is suddenly scooped up by a Twoleg Kit, but Squirrelpaw and Stormfur save her, and they continue through the large Twolegplace. Crowpaw angrily says that Purdy led them in the opposite direction of the sun, since it is behind them; the six cats realize that Purdy never knew the way to the sun-drown-place and argue with him, but are forced to follow him, since he is their only hope. The next day, he helps fight off the rats in a Twolegplace, as he is seen throwing them away with a powerful paw, though Tawnypelt gets an infected bite on her shoulder. Tawnypelt's condition worsens, and Feathertail and Crowpaw continue to argue with Purdy, believing that he got them lost. Purdy, however, ignores them and finally reaches a lush forest to show them. Later, the six questing cats say good-bye to Purdy and continue towards the setting sun. The former kittypet, with some time, helps get them to the sun-drown-place to see Midnight, a badger, whom the cats were looking for the whole time.

The traveling cats soon rejoin Purdy. Stormfur becomes jealous of Feathertail and Crowpaw's relationship, but is cut off by the scent of foxes nearby. Purdy attempts to attack the foxes, only to be stopped by Stormfur. Midnight then uses her knowledge of the foxes' language to convince the foxes to not attack. The foxes agree, but only if the cats are gone by sunset. Then, the she-badger tells the Clan cats to go through the mountains home. Purdy is alarmed and tries to dissuade the cats from going there, but Midnight interrupts. Brambleclaw and the five others ignore Purdy's desperate warnings and say good-bye to him.

During the the cats' travel to the mountains of the Tribe of Rushing Water, the cats meet Purdy along the way. Purdy is surprised and overjoyed to see them again. As Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight introduce their kits, Purdy says Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight are hardly more than kits themselves. The elderly cat explains that his Twoleg has died and he shows them important places to hide, catch food, and travel. When Hollypaw, Lionpaw, and Breezepaw are trapped in the barn by dogs when they go off to hunt, he saves them by showing them a hay stack that they can climb up. He finally accompanies them all of the way to the beginnings of the rocks, where Hollypaw offers to get the ticks out of his fur by rubbing mouse bile on it. He later says one final goodbye to the group before the Clan cats travel to the mountains.

On the patrol of cats journey to the sun-drown-place, they encounter Purdy in Twolegplace with the help of Jingo. He is living with and sharing food with Sol. The tortoiseshell loner seems to like the elderly cat, and does not seem to try and control him, only seeing to him learning how to hunt properly. Purdy is happy to see the Clan cats and offers them some of his recently caught rabbit and offers them a place to stay in the den until they must leave the next day. He takes the mouse that Hollyleaf brought him with gratitude. Upon leaving he watches the patrol when Brambleclaw offers him a place in ThunderClan. At first he is bewildered by the offer and refuses, but after further pressing from Brackenfur as well, he agrees to accompany the cats back to the lake.

Brackenfur helps him cross the Thunderpath, almost getting hit by a monster in the process. Purdy snaps at him, saying that young cats are always panicking and the monster wouldn't have hit them. He tires quicker than the others and causes the patrol to retire early for the night. At this point, they begin to think it was a bad idea to bring him. Hollyleaf brings him another piece of prey she catches and he eats it eagerly, suddenly becoming embarrassed and offers her some as well. She takes note that it seems he hasn't been well fed in moons. She and Hazeltail sleep beside Purdy that night to keep him warm. Hazeltail comments her hopes that he doesn't have fleas. Hollyleaf feels very determined that Purdy has many parasites as well as fleas. The next morning Purdy is frightened upon seeing sheep and is even more spooked when one begins to walk towards the patrol. Once the patrol leaves the farm, he collapses onto the ground. Hollyleaf then treats him for fleas and ticks, knowing that Mousefur would be angry at having an infested cat near her.

When they return to ThunderClan, Purdy joins Mousefur and Longtail as an elder. He and Mousefur become fast friends, often complaining about young cats. He warms himself on rocks with his new friend. When a snake is awakened by the cats on the rocks, Honeyfern gets bitten by the snake when she saves Briarkit from getting bitten by it. He and Mousefur hear this and thinks that Honeyfern's death is their fault. He also refuses to believe in StarClan, much like Cloudtail, Daisy, and Mothwing.

It is also noted that he has trouble with his paw-pads and complains to Jayfeather. While Jayfeather is putting an ointment on his sore pads, he discovers the mystery herb, parsley, and that was used by Jayfeather's mother, who is later revealed to be Leafpool.

Purdy is shown to be fitting in well with the other elders, and, despite his kittypet roots, well-liked within the Clan. He loves telling the Clan about his past and will start the story over if they fall asleep.

He is found sleeping on the rock where the snake had struck Honeyfern moons ago while Jayfeather is busy searching, revealing the snake had never taken his and Leafpool's deathberry bait. The medicine cat asks the elder to leave, but Purdy only responds on how he knows how to look for snakes himself and offers to help. During this, he comments on what Jayfeather is doing, saying he's missed a spot. He then brings up how he must feel about Lionblaze leaving to go on the journey upstream, comparing it to Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight's journey, much to Jayfeather's dismay. He mentions how the two were so young and brave and how he never had problems with his Upwalker; he even trained him. Finally, Jayfeather finishes, interrupting Purdy on a story about a fox. The tom is satisfied with helping, saying how foxes around now are nothing like the ones he used to fight and goes back to his rock to rest.

Purdy is mentioned in Jayfeather's thoughts about young cats receiving advice from Daisy and Ferncloud. This gives away the fact that Purdy had moved into the elders' den, otherwise said to be the honeysuckle bush. Jayfeather notes that once he had started one of his stories, it would probably be until sunset that a cat could get a word in.

Much later, while the tree is about to fall, Purdy is seen trying to get the elders to hurry up out of the honeysuckle. Lionblaze slips past Purdy and tries to convince Mousefur to get out of the den, who is protesting that her moss will get wet. Purdy is then seen steering Longtail and Mousefur out the den.

After the tree falls, Purdy asks where Longtail is. After finding out what happened, Purdy weaves around Mousefur, trying to calm her down, promising that they'd find him. As Mousefur starts to moan and press her muzzle into Longtail's fur, as he is dead, Purdy shuffles closer in an attempt to comfort her.

When Jayfeather asks Lionblaze where he'd been, he says he had been helping Purdy and Mousefur bury Longtail, since they were so tired. While Mousefur is mourning, Purdy asks questions about Longtail, notably how he was like before he lost his sight, comforting her. Jayfeather is, for once, glad to have Purdy in the Clan.

Afterwards, Whitewing suggests finding swan feathers, she points out that Purdy and Mousefur will appreciate soft nests after all they've been through.

Later on, Purdy is seen leading Mousefur to the new den, purring that the nests look lovely. She curls up and says that she preferred the old nests, as they smelt of Longtail. Purdy glances at the apprentices, telling them to leave. He then curls up and presses against Mousefur.

Purdy asks Dovepaw if a mouse would appeal to Mousefur to eat. Squirrelflight asks Purdy if Mousefur is hungry, and Purdy responds by saying she is sad. Later, Jayfeather comes into the elders' den to check on Mousefur, who is wheezing, and the medicine cat wonders if it is infection or just old age. He decides to ignore it, for he feels that it is probably unimportant.

After a battle over the strip of grass between Shadowclan and Thunderclan, Purdy asks Mousefur if ShadowClan knew that they lost the battle for the clearing. Mousefur retorts that they must know since Lionblaze killed their deputy, Russetfur. Purdy is angry that Mousefur blames Lionblaze, and she is shocked he is so passionate. Purdy storms off and ignores her for quite some time after their quarrel.

Later, Jayfeather is speaking to Briarlight, trying to comfort her, since she is feeling guilty about being crippled, and he uses Purdy as an example of a non-hunting cat, since he is an elder and usually gets ticks or fleas. Jayfeather says that they don't hunt for the Clan, but the Clan hunts for them. Briarlight had also been refusing to eat because she thought sense she didn't hunt for the Clan, she didn't deserve to be fed by the Clan.

Later, when Mousefur complains about water leaking through the roof of the den, Purdy tries to comfort her saying that the warriors will fix it soon.

Purdy comes out of the elders' honeysuckle bush when Firestar gathers the Clan together to make Ivypaw and Dovepaw warriors. Later, when Bumblestripe complains about having to check the elders for ticks, Purdy says that they can check themselves. Purdy is then seen sitting beside Mousefur next to their den, and Ivypaw guesses that he's telling Mousefur one of his stories. When Jayfeather is going to the mountains, he asks Purdy if he can look after Mousefur when he is gone.

While Whitewing fiercely grooms her fully-grown kits, she mentions that she would be helping them gather fresh moss for the elders. She also tells her daughters to make sure there were no thorns in Purdy's bedding or they would never hear the end of it. As Dovewing is collecting the moss from the roots of an oak tree, Whitewing comments that it should please Mousefur and Purdy.

Later, Purdy pads up to Dovewing shortly after she places the squirrel she caught on the fresh-kill pile, asking Dovewing if she was the one collecting moss. Dovewing then asks if there was a problem. Blinking apologetically, Purdy meows that it was really dry and prickly. He says he didn't want to fuss but Mousefur couldn't get comfortable. Purdy begins to tell Hollyleaf a story about a fox wandering through his Upwalker's garden but is interrupted by Jayfeather, causing Purdy to say that nobody raises young cats with manners anymore.

Purdy is happily shocked when Sol returns to the Clans, as the wandering loner used to share a den with him before he joined the Clan, and they were friends.

Purdy continues to care for Mousefur in the elders' den, washing her fur as she dozes off. Mousefur is alarmed, and asks Purdy if there is an invasion when Gorsetail and Owlwhisker bring Jayfeather back to the ThunderClan camp. Purdy tells Mousefur that he doubts it was, considering there were only two warriors.

His scent fills Jayfeather's nose when he returns from hunting, he is damp and smells musky, and claims he only went hunting because his denmate Mousefur was hungry. She tells him not to make her his excuse, and he complains that they'd been stuck in the dens for days, so he needed to get out for a while. Mousefur asks him if he was bored of her company, and he thought she could take a break from his stories. Mousefur tells him that his stories are the only thing interesting that happened in ThunderClan. He tells Jayfeather that Mousefur was teaching Lilykit and Seedkit how to catch stray tails under the warriors' den wall. Purdy comments that Lionblaze had gotten up really early.

Purdy is mentioned when Firestar says that Spiderleg will train Mousefur and him because Spiderleg's known him the longest. In the battle, Graystripe orders him and Mousefur to stay inside the den, he protests and asked about the fighting moves Spiderleg had taught them. Graystripe tells them to use them only when the battle finds them. He is nosed back into the den by the gray warrior.

Purdy is with Mousefur, after the defeat the first wave of the Dark Forest warriors. During the second wave of the battle, Purdy fights alongside Mousefur against Darkstripe. When Mousefur is defeated, he grieves for her, but is happy to see her running around as a member of StarClan, noting that she'll be able to hunt again and that she died a warriors' death after all.

After Bumblepaw learns the Lightning Strike technique, he is eager to show it to other cats in his Clan, namely his denmates. He asks Ivypaw and Dovepaw to be invaders, while Lionblaze and Purdy to pretend to be trees for him to stalk behind to attack Ivypaw and Dovepaw with the Lightning Strike technique.

Purdy briefly appears with Mousefur, as he accompanies the old she-cat to the dirtplace. Although she seems upset about it, she accepts the fact that Purdy isn't letting her go anywhere on her own, since they are very close friends already and Mousefur is getting older and frailer.

Purdy: "Sure you were, young 'un. Come on. You an' I will spread the moss out here, just outside the den, an' it'll soon dry in the sun. An' while it does that, I'll tell you how I once killed a whole nest o' rats."